Chapter 191: Japan’s Corruption (2)

“…Dammit.”

Seo Jun gasped for breath.

His vision twisted.

The moment the boundary between reality and the Tower collapsed, he had narrowly brushed past Kim Si-won’s fingertips and was now completely separated.

‘It’s exactly like entering the Tower.’

Seo Jun gritted his teeth and surveyed his surroundings.

This place… wasn’t Tokyo.

Yet it wasn’t something he could definitively call the Tower either.

A red sky, torn earth, bizarrely deformed ruins of a city.

And crawling endlessly over the ruins, the army of abominations.

Drip, drip—

Black slime flowed beneath Seo Jun’s feet.

Mutants crawled out from the sticky substance clinging to him.

Monsters with human faces.

But their eyes held no sanity.

Twisted limbs, warped bodies, black tentacles sprouting through flesh.

Crack.

Seo Jun gripped the Soul Sword tightly.

He knew.

This space was no longer part of the Tower nor reality—it was a mutated domain where a fragment of Terror had directly infiltrated.

To be precise, the traces emitted by that fragment.

Boom!

The ground split.

A red mass burst forth from among the crawling monsters.

Tentacles coiled like vines atop a human head.

A red heart as if ripped from a belly.

The entire space vibrated with the heartbeat.

‘This entire place… is alive.’

Cold sweat trickled down Seo Jun.

But he couldn’t retreat.

If he collapsed here, it was over.

He couldn’t leave Leon behind, nor meet Kim Si-won again.

“Hoo…”

He caught his breath and lowered his stance.

Red willpower flared up on the Soul Sword.

It was neither the Immortal Flame nor the energy of the Abyss—it was a sword imbued solely with Seo Jun’s own life and will.

Crunch!

The mutants lunged.

Sharp claws and teeth rained down on Seo Jun.

Swoosh!

Seo Jun’s sword flashed, cutting through the space.

One, two, three.

Parts of the mutants split apart, scattering red slime.

But it wasn’t a fatal blow.

‘These people are…’

Seo Jun knew.

These mutants were once ordinary humans.

They weren’t ordinary monsters; they were beings that could return to human form at any time.

That’s why he couldn’t kill them.

He tried to neutralize the mutants and disengage from combat.

But…

Bubble, bubble.

The mutant’s regeneration ability was considerable.

As if water was boiling, the areas he thought were fatal wounds healed completely.

Then they moved again, tightening the encirclement.

That wasn’t all.

From the spot he had cut, more monsters crawled up.

Beings that didn’t die even when killed.

Mutants imbued with a fragment of Terror.

They had no rules, no limits.

They just kept crawling, with even death denied.

‘At this rate, I’ll wear out.’

Seo Jun’s breathing grew rough.

Willpower was rapidly depleting.

His body was reaching its limit.

Bam!

The ground collapsed, and new vines and flesh surged up.

From within, a single gigantic mutant emerged.

A monster that imitated the human form, yet was not human at all.

Five heads, ten arms.

Tentacles and teeth extending from each aimed at Seo Jun.

Seo Jun’s hand tightened.

The Soul Sword vibrated.

Could he overcome this?

He didn’t know.

But one thing was certain.

He couldn’t break.

Boom!

The mutant charged.

Seo Jun raised his sword high.

And once more.

He fought.

Even as he was twisted and torn, his body battered.

In that twisted space where even the flow of time was unknown, Seo Jun continued his desperate struggle—alone, but unyielding.

And he realized.

The structure of this space was as intricate as if it were a miniature model of the Tower.

This place wasn’t just a mutated space—it was a new, small Tower combining reality, the Tower, and the Abyss.

Unless he conquered it, escape and survival were both impossible.

‘Can I do it?’

Doubts arose amid the continuous battle.

But soon.

Crack.

He steeled his mind and gripped the sword handle tightly.

“I’ll go… to the end.”

Even if he was alone now, he wasn’t alone.

‘If I hold on, Master will surely subdue this whole situation.’

A firm belief in his master Kim Si-won.

Even if his own abilities were insufficient to stop this crisis in Japan, as long as he endured, he was confident there was a chance.

And so.

Slash!

He cuts.

Weakening the regenerating mutants—beings that were human until recently—he continued his arduous fight without killing.

—

The Tokyo sky was no longer blue.

Tentacle-like structures intertwined above a sky dyed blood-red.

Buildings had melted, asphalt had cracked, and monsters crawling from the gaps dominated the city center.

I quietly exhaled.

Tokyo.

It was no longer reality.

This place was part of the Tower disguised as reality, eroded by Nepas—the mutated 73rd Floor.

Boom!

A roar sounded from somewhere.

From shadows, from the air, from the gaps of crumpled space, the army of abominations revealed themselves.

They were monsters.

But completely different from the monsters of the existing Tower.

They imitated human forms.

Grotesquely distorted faces, twisted limbs, black slime flowing over their entire bodies.

Inside, a heartbeat.

That heartbeat twisted the space.

Mutants born from the fusion of the Tower’s exterior, the Abyss, and the source of Terror.

‘This place itself… is alive.’

I drew my sword.

The Undying Set blazed red.

I no longer relied on this power.

But when necessary, I used it without hesitation.

The pinnacle of the sword.

Human strength based on mortality.

And the purified authority of Immortality.

Now I… am a human who has escaped the laws.

Crunch!

The first mutant lunged.

A monster with a human face.

That face was vaguely crying.

As if they were the missing persons of Tokyo, a pained expression.

“Human…”

I realize it immediately.

It is both a mutant and a human.

But I do not hesitate.

Slash!

The monster’s neck flew off.

But it didn’t fall.

The headless body staggered and extended tentacles.

Crunch!

I swung my sword once more.

I cut its very existence.

Only then did the monster scatter like dust.

Of course, that wasn’t ordinary annihilation.

Flash!

Light spread.

It was a powerful life force.

The power of purification and life imbued in Cain’s Immortal Set.

It revives through killing.

I infused the sword with purification and life force, turning the mutant back into a human.

If the conquest of Japan succeeded safely, the mutated being would return to human form.

‘The Abyss and Terror are intertwined.’

But the situation wasn’t so optimistic.

To return them to human form required an enormous amount of life force.

That was the fundamental power that extended my life.

So, in summary, it meant I was granting my own life to turn them back into humans.

My lifespan… was decreasing.

But there was no time to dwell on such thoughts.

Thud, thud.

The ground vibrated.

The next wave was coming.

This time, bigger.

Mutants the size of buildings formed an army and surged forward.

In the center, a giant mutant beast with a red heart appeared.

“Is that an aggregate of humans…”

As large as its size, countless humans were fused together.

At least hundreds.

And this mutant—

Roooar—

Its roar shook the space.

Glass windows shattered, roads tore apart.

Space wavered.

But I did not retreat.

Swoosh.

I raised my sword high.

I pulled up my willpower.

Red flames and the pinnacle of humanity imbued the sword.

The Undying Set transcended its framework, and I was no longer part of the Tower.

Thump.

I took a step forward.

Space cracked.

Through that crack, I leaped.

Flash!

I swung my sword.

I cut through space, severed the mutant’s neck.

I tore its heart, even cut the source of its existence.

One, two, three.

Monsters vanished like dust.

But the giant beast still stood.

Tap!

I jumped high.

The Immortal Flame burst beneath my feet.

Using that flame as a foothold, I cleaved the sky.

Rip!

The giant beast’s heart opened.

There, my sword touched.

Thunk!

The heart was pierced.

Boom!

A red explosion.

The giant beast’s roar echoed.

Its flesh tore apart, the energy of Terror scattered into the air.

To save hundreds of lives, my own life was being consumed.

‘He must have aimed for this.’

I could see Nepas’s scheme.

He knew.

What my condition was, and what choice I would make.

After regaining my personality, my goal was to save humanity.

That’s why he prepared this stage.

He intended to exhaust all my life through this conquest of Japan.

Or perhaps.

‘He might be hoping I reject humanity again.’

He liked me when my personality was gone.

Even if it was affection for a toy, that manic obsession still seemed to remain.

But.

‘That won’t happen.’

I chose to be human.

I will never become a monster again.

And so.

Swoosh.

I cut.

—

Using my life, that power of purification.

I don’t know how much time passed.

I was still fighting.

Boom!

The Immortal Flame erupting from my sword tip swept through the swarm of abominations.

The mutants that rose one after another, their twisted bodies, collapsed, wrapped in flames.

I knew they were Japanese citizens.

That’s why I didn’t kill them.

From my fingertips imbued with the Undying Set, the willpower of life spread.

The flames enveloping the mutants’ bodies stripped away the abominations and restored their human forms.

“One… two…”

But there was no end.

The swarm surged, and lumps of abominations poured down like twisted clouds in the sky.

[73rd Floor, Tokyo – Mutant Aggregate Conquest Rate: 74%.]

[Life Restored: 923,889.]

System messages appeared one after another.

There was no time.

The swarm was merely a preliminary skirmish.

Far away, near Tokyo Tower, that energy.

It was there.

‘The Great Corrupted Mutant.’

A twisted scream tearing space.

A silhouette of a giant hybrid wriggled there, as if the shape of the nation of Japan itself had been distorted.

A monster born from the fusion of the Tower’s corruption and the boundary of reality.

That was the final conquest target of this place.

I inhaled and raised my sword high.

Red flames and willpower surged.

Toward Tokyo Tower, the sword shot in a straight line.

Whoosh!

An explosive collision accompanied by the monster’s scream.

Giant tentacles covered the sky, and above them, the Immortal Flame coiled.

Space split, existence shattered.

A continuous strike pouring from the sword tip.

The corrupted flesh was cut away, revealing the abomination’s core.

The final blow.

A pure white sword strike split the space, cleaving the Great Corrupted Mutant.

Thud!

The heavy remains crashed to the ground.

Silence fell all around.

Tokyo’s mutated sky was purified in an instant.

[Tokyo-73rd Floor Conquest Complete.]

[System Stabilization in Progress…]

[Conqueror: Kim Si-won.]

The moment the system message appeared, I knew.

It was over.

I believed that.

But.

Ziiing.

Space twisted.

My vision warped, and a black crest was engraved in the air.

It was Nepas’s trace.

His scheme still enveloping this place.

[Warning: Conquest Conditions Not Met.]

[Simultaneous Conquest Required for All Entrants.]

[Seo Jun – Japan Sector 73rd Floor Conquest Incomplete.]

In that instant, my mind froze like lightning.

The conquest wasn’t over.

This place was both reality and the Tower.

The Tower’s rules applied as is.

Only when everyone who entered completed their conquest simultaneously—

Could we escape this place.

‘Seo Jun…’

I know he’s somewhere in Japan now.

Inside an independent space where the framework of reality has been transformed.

If he can’t conquer that place?

He will vanish along with this mutated Japan.

And it doesn’t end there.

If the conquest of Japan fails, a phenomenon like a dimensional rift will spread Japan’s corruption across the entire world.

Nepas plans to spread this corruption worldwide, starting with Japan.

This reality of Japan, the 73rd Floor, is only the beginning.

Soon, the United States, China, Europe, even South Korea.

The whole of reality will turn into a Tower, the whole world into a stronghold of Terror.